40-story tower on LICH site could prove contentious

A redevelopment plan for the site of Long Island College Hospital, the future of which became a campaign issue in Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2013 election, is being shaped by a new coalition announced on Friday.

But Brad Lander, a City Councilman involved in that coalition, is already questioning the developer's plans for a 40-story tower on the site.

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Fortis Property Group, which is in the process of buying the land housing LICH, announced it has joined with local residents and elected officials to map out possibilities for the site.

"Today's announcement marks an important step forward in what we hope will be a collaborative, thoughtful discussion about the future of the former LICH site," Joel Kestenbaum, president of Fortis, is quoted saying in a press release.

The group plans to hold several public meetings over the next three months, including one on Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Brooklyn Montessori School on Court Street, to elicit opinions from local residents about their plans.

The coalition will consider a rezoning and another possible redevelopment plan for the land. Among the ideas floated in the announcement, released by Fortis' spokesman, were affordable housing, schools, urban design, retail, parks and infrastructure.

Any rezoning would require a formal land use approval from the city—a process that would involve Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Lander, the community board and the City Planning Commission.

In a separate release, Lander, residents and elected officials bemoaned a possible tower of 400 market-rate units that would not require any public approval because it could be built as of right, without a rezoning.

"Both of the proposed options present development that is dramatically out of scale with the adjacent Cobble Hill Historic District, which has a height limit of 50 feet—in each case, the tallest building Fortis proposes would be over 40 stories," the release reads.

LICH was run by the State University of New York until it closed last year and was replaced with a free-standing emergency room, following a long court battle fought by unions and community activists who sought to keep a full-service hospital open. The E.R. is being operated by N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center.